LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

Court rolls survive for
the manor of Wanstead from 1523 to 1856, with
considerable gaps in the 16th and 17th centuries. (fn. 1)
Courts leet and baron were being held up to 1643,
after which only courts baron are recorded. The
leet appointed a constable (to 1629), an aleconner
(to 1585), and a woodward (to 1536). In the 16th
century it frequently presented breaches of the
assizes of bread and ale. Scolds were presented in
1532 and 1535 and a barrator also in 1535. In 1575
the court noted that there were no stocks in the
manor and ordered a pair to be provided. Litigation
between tenants of the manor is occasionally recorded in the rolls. A manorial pound existed in
1637. On the manor of Cann Hall courts were apparently still being held in 1731, (fn. 2) but no court rolls
are known to exist.

The parish records of Wanstead form a large
collection including vestry minutes 1688–1883,
select vestry minutes 1819–36, and overseers' rates
and accounts for various dates between 1718 and
1836. (fn. 3) Before 1777 the minutes rarely state where
vestry meetings were held. From 1777 to 1786 the
meeting-place was usually a public house or sometimes the church. From 1786 to 1832 meetings were
usually at the church. The village school was used
occasionally from 1814, and from 1833 was the usual
meeting-place. The vestry met about four times a
year between 1688 and 1750, and about six times a
year between 1750 and 1836. Until 1810 the attendance was usually between 5 and 10. After 1810
it was usually between 10 and 20. At important
meetings it was sometimes over 30. The rector seems
always to have taken the chair when present. In his
absence it was usually taken by a churchwarden.
Each successive rector attended regularly except
Richard Goodere (1750–69). Samuel Glasse (1786–1812) seems to have been the strongest chairman.
The lords of the manor of Wanstead rarely attended
except on special occasions. William Pole-Tylney-Long-Wellesley appeared once only (July 1812),
when he took the chair. The lords of Cann Hall,
who were non-resident, hardly ever attended. Up
to 1714 the vestry appointed annually a small
number of auditors of the parish officers' accounts.
In 1800 it set up a standing committee of audit,
meeting monthly. In 1768 an ad hoc committee on
'the state of the poor' was appointed. In 1819 the
parish set up a select vestry which functioned until
1836. This comprised 20 members elected annually.
It met every fortnight in the school under the
chairmanship of the rector and later of a churchwarden or overseer.

Until the later 18th century there were only one
churchwarden, one overseer of the poor, one parish
constable, and one surveyor of highways. A second
overseer was appointed from 1761, a second churchwarden (nominated by the rector) from 1787, and a
second constable from 1791 or 1792. About 1787
the vestry also abandoned its peculiar recent custom
of sending each churchwarden to be sworn in at
quarter sessions. These changes were no doubt
inspired by Samuel Glasse. No additional surveyor
was appointed. The officers often employed deputies, some of whom served for years at a stretch.
A deputy might act for more than one officer at the
same time. It was not unusual for deputies to
receive small payments from the vestry as well as
from their principals, though such use of parish
funds sometimes aroused opposition in the vestry.
From the later 18th century, as the parish grew,
the employment of paid officers became more
frequent. From 1808 to 1822 the vestry employed
a salaried assistant surveyor, part-time. An assistant
overseer, appointed from 1820, also acted as rate-collector, and in 1833 he was directed to serve full-time, without other employment. Both constables
received a small salary from 1804. From 1825 there
was only one constable, salaried and full-time.

The work of vestry clerk appears to have been
performed by the rector, Thomas Juson, throughout
his incumbency (1724–49), and in 1731 it was agreed
that he should receive an honorarium for this
service. After his time a separate vestry clerk was
employed, being paid fees or a small salary. The
vestry employed various minor officials. There are
references to the parish (or church) clerk throughout
the period covered by the vestry minutes. For some
years in the mid 18th century the post was held in
conjunction with that of assistant overseer. A beadle
appointed in 1770 was also vestry clerk. In 1825
the beadle was also organ-blower and bell-ringer.

Information concerning the finances of the parish
is incomplete, and is especially deficient for the
years c. 1790–1810, when it would be most valuable. (fn. 4) In Wanstead, as elsewhere, the parish income
came mainly from the poor-rates, but church-rates,
which before the 19th century were used partly
for civil purposes, seem to have provided a larger
proportion of the income than was usual in south-west Essex. In the 1690s a separate constable's rate
was sometimes levied, but later the constable's
bills were charged to the poor-rate or to the church-rate. In the 18th century the surveyor's expenses
were met mainly from a levy (not a rate) in commutation of statute labour, with occasional help from the
poor-rates or church-rates. The main and recurrent
costs of poor-relief were charged on the poor-rates,
but casual relief was often provided from the church-rate. In the 19th century, and especially after the
appointment of the select vestry, a clearer distinction was made in the use of poor-rates and church-rates, and it also became customary to levy a highway
rate. The rateable value of the parish rose from
£1,021 in 1688 to £6,178 in 1836.

There is no reference to a parish poorhouse until
1727, when the vestry leased a house from Lord
Castlemaine for that purpose and repaired it with
the aid of some small legacies recently made to
the parish. In 1737 this house accommodated 17
people, mostly old but including 5 children in one
family. They occupied tenements of one, two, or
three rooms, for which they paid rent. At that period
the inmates seem to have given little trouble except
by falling behind with the rent. As poverty increased, the poorhouse came to be used for 'problem' families rather than for the aged. In 1761 the
vestry resolved to ask the help of the magistrates in
enforcing discipline there, and ordered the inmates
to 'attend strictly to the service of the church' on
pain of forfeiting their allowances. In 1785, after
further difficulties, the lease of the house was given
up, and the vestry began to farm out paupers to
Overton's workhouse at Mile End (Lond.).

The Mile End workhouse appears to have been
the only lodging provided by the parish for any of its
poor between 1786 and 1801. Those sent there were
neither kindly nor efficiently treated and the vestry
gradually became reluctant to subject parishioners
to such conditions. After 1801, when the parish
again provided some poorhouse accommodation,
it continued to send its most difficult paupers to
London workhouses. The Mile End workhouse
continued to be used to a small extent until 1825–6,
but after 1820 places were usually sought in the
workhouses at Stepney Green, Bethnal Green,
Hoxton, or the Borough. Lunatics were usually sent
to an asylum at Bethnal Green.

In 1801 the vestry leased a house at Holloway
Down to accommodate paupers. It was given up in
1814, but from 1821 two cottages were being rented
from the lord of Wanstead manor; they were probably the two parish houses described in the select
vestry's report of November 1831 as being in
Poor House Alley. The parish also rented a tenroom house and three cottages at Holloway Down
(1831–6) and two cottages in George Row (1834–6).
In 1834 the select vestry reported that the parish
held only four houses, in which were placed the aged
and infirm poor, then numbering 13 adults and 5
children. This return seems to ignore the houses on
Holloway Down, possibly because their inmates
paid rent.

Before 1727 poor-relief consisted mainly of pensions or doles to a few of the aged. Between 1693 and
1699 there was only one regular pensioner. The
original poorhouse, leased in 1727, was at first used
as a form of cheap accommodation rather than an
alternative to out-relief. In 1729 there were 7
parish pensioners, drawing 2s.–3s. a week each.
During the next thirty years the number was usually
between 5 and 12. In 1749 the vestry resolved to
provide relief in kind instead of weekly pensions,
which the poor were thought to misspend. This had
no lasting effect. Pensions continued, along with
doles of food, clothing, and fuel, which the vestry
had always provided. These forms of out-relief,
along with medical aid, accounted for most of the
poor-rate. Payments for medical treatment figure
occasionally in the parish records from 1688. From
1759 the vestry was paying a regular retainer to a
doctor (between 1794 and 1808 two doctors) who
received additional payments for vaccinations and
midwifery. Occasional use was made of specialist
doctors from outside the parish, as in 1823 when
the vestry paid the large sum of 12 gns. for treating
the deformed feet of a child. Many payments were
made to those nursing the sick poor and to the
London hospitals which received the worst cases.

The vestry did its best to prevent the able-bodied from becoming a burden on the rates. In
apprenticing pauper children care was usually taken
to find suitable masters and even to consult the
wishes of the children themselves. Since there was
little or no industry in Wanstead most apprentices
had to be bound outside the parish, to Barking
fishermen, or to such craftsmen as weavers, tailors,
shoemakers, or barbers, in east London or West
Ham. During the Napoleonic wars any boy who
wished to go to sea could depend on the immediate
help of the vestry, even if, like one apprentice in
1802, he had lost his settlement in Wanstead. Apart
from those going to sea, few children were sent
far from home; but in 1788 four went to a woollen
factory at Cuckney (Notts.). Able-bodied adults
were encouraged to follow their own trades, for
which they were often given tools or materials.
Under the select vestry the poor were put to work
in the parish gravel-pits, on the roads, in the forest,
or on local farms. From 1831 onwards more money
was paid to the casual poor for work than for relief.

Despite its numerous wealthy residents Wanstead
was finding the burden of poor-relief uncomfortably
heavy by the end of the 18th century. Before 1750
the rates levied for all purposes had rarely been
more than 2s. in the pound, which produced £110
in 1718, and £142 in 1740. After 1750 they began
to rise, and by the 1780s 4s. was not unusual,
producing about £360, of which about £300 was
spent on relief. (fn. 5) During the later years of the
Napoleonic wars they reached 6s. or more, and in
1816 the poor-rates alone amounted to 7s., producing over £1,900. The vestry tried various expedients
to keep down the costs of relief. A proposal in 1800
to build a parish mill came to nothing. In 1801 the
vestry built a communal bakehouse, but the baker
who had agreed to manage it withdrew and that
project also seems to have been abandoned. Also
in 1801 a scheme was launched to provide cheap food
for the poor. The necessary funds were drawn from
the rates, public subscriptions, or private charity,
and the scheme continued at least until 1810.

After 1816 the cost of relief fell. The lavish expenditure by William Pole-Tylney-Long-Wellesley
at Wanstead House during that period probably
eased the burden of poverty in the parish. The select
vestry, soon after formation in 1819, introduced a
stricter scale of relief, and ordered that paupers
who were dissatisfied with it should be farmed out
to London workhouses. The gross expenditure of
the overseers had dropped from £1,865 in 1817 to
to £1,573 in 1819; in 1820 it was further reduced
to £1,128. (fn. 6) Economy was maintained after 1820.
This policy culminated in a new code of regulations
drawn up in 1833. The overseers were to apply rigid
scales of relief. No unmarried man was to be relieved
or employed between April and October. Work in
the parish gravel-pits was to be more strictly controlled. The wages of parish labourers was to be
prohibitively low. The code was so effective that in
September 1834 the select vestry claimed to have
cut the rates by nearly a quarter, and to have checked
'the spirit of pauperism'. The overseers' expenditure,
which had been £1,265 in 1828, fell to £1,202 in
1833, and £1,083 in 1835. In the year ending Lady
Day 1834 29 able-bodied men were being employed;
33 infirm men and 6 women were being employed
part-time; 14 totally disabled men and 28 women
were receiving relief. The parish was also supporting 24 children. How far the select vestry's economies caused hardship to the poor is not clear. The
select vestry certainly did not fail to keep the workhouses and the poorhouses under constant surveillance.

The Wanstead vestry never had to deal with any
serious problems of law and order. A parish watch-house was repaired in 1693, and in 1711 the vestry
ordered two sentry-boxes to be made. Stocks were
also set up in 1711, and a cage was built beside
them in 1714. A new cage was completed in 1818.
About 1830 the parish instituted an armed watch
against body snatchers. The watchmen used the
vestry room in the church until 1831, when a sentry-box was erected in the churchyard. (fn. 7) This was presumably the stone box, given in memory of the
Wilton family, which still stood there in 1971. (fn. 8)

Wanstead became part of West Ham poor law
union in 1836, and of the Metropolitan police district in 1840. A local board of 9 members was set
up for the parish in 1854. (fn. 9)
From 1894 Wanstead was
governed by an urban district
council of 9 members. (fn. 10) In
1934 the urban district was
united with that of Woodford,
and in 1937 the combined
urban district was incorporated
as a municipal borough. (fn. 11) In
1965 Wanstead and Woodford
was amalgamated with Ilford
and parts of Chigwell and
Dagenham as the London
borough of Redbridge. (fn. 12)

Wanstead and Woodford Municipal Borough. Azure, a cross flory argent between, in the first and fourth quarters, a leopard's face, and in the second and third quarters, a martlet, or.

Footnotes

3. When this section was originally drafted some of the
records were missing. They have since been found, and
the whole collection has been deposited in the Essex
Record Office. All the records are listed in Essex Parish
Records (2nd edn.), 225–6. In its final form the following
account of parish government, up to 1836, is based mainly
on: the vestry minutes (E.R.O., D/P 292/8/6–10); select
vestry mins. (D/P 292/8/16–17); overseers' rates (D/P
292/11/19–29, 45–58); and overseers' accounts (D/P
292/12/4–16). Use has also been made of notes from some
of these records supplied by Mr. D. Haley.

4. Some of the parish records seem to have been lost about 1813: D/P 292/8/10, Mar. and June 1813.